Speaker / moderator

I enjoy sharing my passion and knowledge on digital money, bank regulation, innovation and financial history. Over the years I have acted as a speaker and moderator for groups that range from occupy-protestors to central bankers.

If you seek a professional and inspiring speaker or chairman who is able to convey a message to a wide audience, don’t hesitate to contact me via the office of Speakers Academy.

Appearances
– For the Dutch Court of Auditors I presented reflections and insights from Dutch financial history (January 2015) for their project kick-off: Sustainable budgeting.

– In September 2015 I presented my views on the need and possibilities of reforming todays financial systems at the Springtij 2015 Event, moderated by Jort Kelder.

– On June 15, 2015, I joined a panel of the Third Blockchain Workshop in London to contribute my views as to the future development of reputational money and the role of the blockchain

– On June 9, 2015, I provided a TEDx talk for the TEDxYouth event of the International School of the Hague; the subject was: Let’s humanize money ! and the talk was followed by a workshop for students who made their unique forms of money that will change the world for the better.

– On May 12, 2015 I joined the Tegenlicht meetup Utrecht discussion as a panel member to discuss the pros and cons of a basic income and whether alternative money systems could be a solution.

– State banks and the future of ABN AMRO, Early April 2015 I joined the radio-programme OVT that discusses recent history, to reflect on the argument that it would be good to turn ABN AMRO into a state bank. After a reflection of the nature of state banks I concluded that the argument does make sense from an intuitive point of view, but may not be sufficient to tackle the underlying problem (of a lack of internal discipline and morality in the board room).

– Bitcoin and financial ethics, As a part of the programma for higher education for elderly (HOVO) I presented the case of payment mechanism Bitcoin in the Erasmus University course on finance, capital and ethics, November 3, 2014.

– Rationality and irrationality of EU Payments regulation: a closer look at institutional dynamics; I presented on October 24, as a part of the Autumn School of the University of Siena, dedicated to payments regulation (Jean Monnet Module on Europeanisation of the payment system),

– On the 17th of May Simon Lelieveldt joined a panel at the #Bitcoin2014 conference on the history of money and lessons for digital currencies today.

– Vara Kassa (tv-show focusing on consumers): In May 2014 the discussion was all about charging for exchange transactions. I clarified that airports are an expensive location that one should avoid when doing exchange transactions; customers can benefit by preparing their journey with a comparison of exchange rates for changing to foreign currency.

– Playing the cards right: a presentation on the history of money and the future regulatory models for Bitcoin; given at EPCA Summit (March 2014) as well as the 10th Amsterdam Bitcoin Meetup (April 2014),

– Vara Kassa (consumer tv-show): On March the 15th, I explained that the use of Dynamic Currency Conversion at ATMs or on the web, is a costly service that customers may wish to avoid:

– Vara Kassa (tv-show focusing on consumers): In january 2014, just two weeks before the (official) deadline of the SEPA-changeover I clarified that the new SEPA direct debit system currently comes with some misstakes as companies and banks are making the change-over. I suggested that consumers monitor their direct debits a bit closer and steer away from all kinds of fishing e-mails that relate to the changeover of SEPA or the renumbering of bank numbers into the International Bank Account Number.

– In december 2013, I had the pleasure of discussing money, the history of banking and alternative payments with Nathan Vecht in the radio-show: Casa Luna. You can listen to the show here (in Dutch).

– In november 2013, Vara’s kassa, broadcasted an item on a prepaid card which could be loaded using the landline telephone (0900-services); I outlined that this functionality would fall under Dutch supervision laws with AFM being the most likely supervisor in charge. Politician Agnes Mulder announced that she would ask further questions in parliament to clarify the issue. In the week after the broadcast the functionality was taken offline by the provider.

– I chaired the first day of the EFMA Retail Payments week conference (September 2013) where I witnessed the first live demo of the BBVA mobile wallet and learnt that the war on the mobile wallet may well turn out to become a war for the customers (digital) handbag instead.

– In september 2013, the Arminius Thoughts Café organised an evening with Money 2.0 (Geld 2.0) as the main topic. As a panelist I contributed my views on Bitcoin from the perspective of financial history (see the VMeo video here: starting at 34 minutes).

-In june 2013, the International Conference on Complementary Currency Systems was held in The Hague. During the conference I moderated a Community of Practice session on legal aspect of currencies, during. In between the sessions, this video was shot in which I outline some ideas as to the future of currencies.

– in April 2013 I joined a radio conversation with Werner Trio from Belgian Radio Klara. He interviewed Karim Bennamar and myself on the subject Money and Value. The sessions took place in the Beurs van Berlage of Amsterdam during the Philosophy Night. You can listen to the broadcast here (in Dutch).

– In februari 2013 RTL Nieuws asked me to provide some more background information on the takeover of SNS Reaal by the Dutch State. My conclusion was that the valuation of SNS was of no relevance considering the ICAAP assessment of the SNS Board itself.